>> the name of the book is written by former las vegas mayor, oscar goodman. mayor goodman, when did you come to vegas and why. >> we came here in 1964. i went to a wonderful liberal arts college in the outskirts of philadelphia and i loved every day of college and when i went to law school at the university of pennsylvania, the civil rights movement was very, very active... time of the civil rights movement were was very active. the students that were there were interested in corporate law and the like. i had just gotten married. i felt bad that i wasn't supporting my wife. one day i decided to walk down to city hall to the da's office and say, you have a job. and i was very lucky because they took me to the office of arlen specter. he was just coming off of a win

of the conviction of a teamster. i think i'm the only person that did that. and a wealthy widow was killed. two fellows took money and took it out to las vegas and they assigned me to going over there on a motion to suppress this. at the end of themeeting, this. >> how would you like to gothe o to the land as many? that she said i am not going to israel. we did not know a soul wewe hagt had a great education and $7 with the american dream.

there is a character in all we'll abner by david joe reverie went there was a cloud over his head and it would wray but with me i have always said the v sunshine for a car has been what kiky. >>host: what did youn practice? >>guest: whoever would >> any taketh me vagrancy or >> if ey ns or a divorce or whenever they wanted was there to take care of them i w tried to make them verytake car happy aboutof was happy so we must be a loss vegas thank you. this is real. believe me. this is not water. that is for watching.ashi. may i toast to? this is given to me by thehead convention authority. so i don't feel guilty.5: >>host: it is 5:00

somewhere. we will get to the fact youfacto had a martini delivered to you as we speak probably the first time it has been delivered during an interview but i want to come back to the subtitle of your book that is from mob lawyer "be to mayor of las vegas - only in america" how did you become known as the mob lawyer? >> it did not start off that way but they would suggest that i was sent out from theoasr mobsters ofep these coastmo because it was referred to in as the open city. the five mafia families didt not have a strong hold onasino e r y particularre casino so itfo was open for anybody to take a piece.even pra i came with the expectation not to even practiced criminal law. so one day filing for vagrancy i took care of themhimw

and in those days i was hi suggested perhaps i was co taking its bid to of the house and i said come on down. it was very romantic i thei guy charged $250 and he wasand happy and i was happy. a couple of weeks later theson d person said to is the bestinal n criminal lawyer in vegas?was they would normally say i don't know. they say who was the best criminal lawyer? ega it's that is the way it started the phone call was ahons

reputed mobster from the northeast but then i get a phone call though i wasared t scared to death. us in being the brave person that i am we went to leverrier exclusivelook at neighborhood and he said the ok. better when the case. i went around the corner and 30, when the dollar bills ii' nn have never seen that much luney in my life because iry got very lucky if i triedi out with zoos 999 times i tried it on st. pelletized the d 80 years after it got my license i did not even know how to pick a jury. he

and i think the jury -- thesorry jury felt so sorry they brought back said not guilty of the brother was so happy he said was the bestwyer of criminal lawyer in lossfrom that vegas and from that point on he would refer to me to people all over the country and bookmakers all over the country where his friend and i got a phone call one daytaing that was taking place inda miami florida with the we wiretaps and taking a video to provide the sports information to the th

bookmaker's they had him hire me and what back to miami to try the caseeverydy e everybody else was found guilty but that oscar foundan it in one the first wiretap case of the lcountry had nothing to do with anything and it was never tried again and from that point on itase in was every single block case in the country. i was hired basically working with 26 different6 cities because of the irritation was developingis again i got luckyluck and i couldn't what dash iasc could ascertain if educates

it is clear to me with the attorney-general of the e united states so i was investigating with johnithell mitchell and then we did something that was inappropriate and once again i kept getting lucky. >>host: talking about your to lawyer career you use the word mob.e the wo mob. are you troubled by that

word? >> i'll never forget the judge in san diego where i was representing a monsterreput. and chris had a career in san diego but then after aed mobster. while i thought that was hisougs name reputed mobster i said to have to understand if he is reputed because he is not a monster intel convicted for that but that is the reputation the media has given him.t has give if somebody is convicted of a mob related crime then i think it is fair to call him a mobster i never objected to that i thought it was a alw badge of hoaynor quite frankly o they could hire anybody in the world they could afford a buddy and they chose me.

>>host: does a different play by the rules? >>guest: no.that gets myande i hate to interrupt you i iave not actively practiced over the last 13 years but d i w when i was practicing duringas the '70s and '80s they think the ends justifies the means they don't care what my client did what they were on trial or in the courtroom for but they felt that myjust clients were so bad that they committed a heinous e crime you don't get somebodywory but if they could get them than that was there job and they would dos anything. i rarely put a client on the witness stand because many of my a client's i that iand could do much better job andi

they're really believe thatr so the endo of the story waswith the people that was prosecuted but invariably i caught them in violation butes d it was one on a technicality amendm because it was the embodiment of one of the great goddess with the illegal search and seizure that someone could violateo int i wir personal liberties. so i won my case based ongo the government's veracity or credibility and my favorite story is one that people d't

don't talk about.er he was african-american and a cure pitcher -- a caricature the way people characterize but basically he mumbles but he was a sart smart guy and they he was w stealing serious amounts ofw hair when and law enforcement was involved ined ia a transaction in arkansas of all places. and they saw him drive up in his cadillac parked out is front and they had arrested somebody coming in and he

was waiting outside the airport all of these rednecks big fat guys i had ifst broke the exclusionary rulestife so if you're going to s testify you have to leaveher pes steve and the first one said i swear to tell the t truthan the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god.t he saw them sitting on theon curb in his cadillac i went up to him and i said sir, nobody ever called himnobo that this was the beginning gf some kind of concoction.ou we do get out of the car and he censer in the.oblem. no problem. and sir, could you handleyou

sticky edit your ignition? ke if he says certainly and iion. dn know that never would haveisai happened and please open upn the etrog indelibly ever said please and he opened the trunk and he found a bag ban now would to be tied the death to open the bag deity opens it up in there is $252,000. so he said he started to get g ag little hot. i ill i will have three more white cops come testify so let me take care of this in you sit there quietly. the knicks' top comes on c a tells whole truth and he nothing but the truth so help me god. same testimony. exactly. the airline. the next crop comes same

testimony in the open endedme up the airline he said. as it had you noticed? said you you are a black guy nobody is going to believe you over drugs. for white, he said the and airline. theh last crop i swear to one tell the truth the wholeafthan truth andk nothing but the truth so help me god did theh, same testimony. he says the airline but the people can tell you that. what you talking about? s he said you know, that they picked him up with the flight attendants?in th he said he had the right 'm there i said to have got to be kidding.i i said your honor we have some very important evidenceid he said i would give yougi

half a day come backa da tomorrow morning. my client to a particular you like it but the publice doesn't like heroin dealersrally generally but don't likel wine cops even more. i go back to my office and i was able to ascertain what airline and then they found the name of the private and t i got him on the phone byoodmana said i and oscar goodman represent a fellow arrestedstedt at the airport in arkansas and he said that was like miami vice he said there wasa a black guy in the car the four cops threw him add of the car and pushed his face his in the curb them put the gunhinh to his head in the wood to

the trunk and kicking him i simply do testify to that? he said sure. i said you come down i willi sam make sure you have a nice roomwi and bring a friend andbrr everything will be takingg willn care of could be a my office tomorrow morning 7:00.morninat ' he came down and we put him on the stand and you know, yowith the stupid prosecutorsuti said? there he is supporting supporti perjury the judge threw thethe e case out said it was a constitutional violation andnsti manny said thank you this is what i like my book those lying cops and thethe l prosecutor who put them ono knowing they were lyingbers the under tehose are ever prosecuted for perjury.

>>host: you are watching booktv on c-span2 talking to you oscar goodman the mayor tlkg of las vegas, at from mob lawyer to mayor of las vegas - only in america". >>guest: if you saw the movie casino with sharon stone. >>host: why we're in the movie?re yo >>guest: rosenthal was one consultants for the film and he said he should play the boy period ay the rosenthal said let my lawyer. do do it. little dids he know he was they hired to play myself it was a wonderful thing and is woerfu supplemented by income. ye >> believe it or not i guess

$7,000 per year in residuals. that isn't bad. [laughter] he was the front man for the tha mob for the corporation thatrpon owns different -- five different hotels very g ,emanding before he cameme aong along you could imagine but with these ideas they changed so tony was ate childhood associate.enforment he was, sent out by the mob chicagot mob and according to

law-enforcement he killed 26 people and i was always chastised by fbi agents if you're klay killed 26 peopleocal how could you sleep atht. night? hour you so dumb? you moron. kied 26 i never got a satisfactory answer along that line. burirtunately he was killed in indiana. a >>host: every his lawyer? >> you never spend one day in jail over the 20 years i represented him except onefo on kind -e- one time but tonyer an >> mrbittmad for murder. >>host: is there such a thing as the mafia? >>guest: attwood time i that thr would havee sworn there was an end. the fbi would say therethat tre wasn't but they say it is

the greatest lie that i everlie told that there is no mafia. how i found out about what i was doing because i had no idea of the structure andhis anthony weiner listened to use of wiretaps and read tis search warrant to seecasino what ifo i really knew what i was doing a would have ew wha charged more and had a limited supply but after i found out there really was aths mafia it you would not calln the the animal, the animalni to his face that is clear. he was the patriarch of the family but i get a phone call one day from a

prosecutorl who said you areand through. i said what does tha t mean? wil i used to make fun of him. that these rats that testified if they got in them in a room and play dead ro done on the table they pull out a knife and will it take their finger or put the blood on the card and write the card if the brother is the informant to they will kill youry brother or the mother is on the sickbed he sic then they will kill the mother and i would laugh at that.uld i th lought it was ludicrous than i get the phone call in cal another state in the he hasitios a mafia induction ceremony in massachusetts with your client. i had to hear it and what i

heard was the ceremony they put a gun on the table there but then i felt they took the figure in the whole a works in a said this issaid this really remarkable the testimony i heard all these years that i would laugh at and make fun of hade us validity.es thi so i had the motion to suppress with a wood said the fbi agents to katchis the fbi in all sorts of lies but i figured if they case would ever be resolved iresolvei would say wrap it up the agents were lying on thewere stand but i could not prove that at the time with the fr estimony i sat down withiate wa

linny you had a legal mannera ra about him i believe boston college we were sitting downllaa i said i could win thisis case.urder and i don't have a problem withe that. extor e couldti beat the robbery andob kidnapping but i have a problem with the mafia induction ceremony. i don't have the problem of the figures, and he was usedproi to that and it'll have a are us r oblem with your brother isothe a rat you will kill him. hi but i do have a problem saying to leave your mother on her deathbed he said theythb. said we will leave that part

out. >>host: a lot was las vegas like when you firstodm. moved here but it was the mob in control of the city t and do they still have ae ap >> tre istoday? >>guest: there is no mafia presence with the r corporations with the sec and takingb control and ages has done its part also of the attrition through theas wiretaps and surveillance there is no mafia. it hass no bearing whatsoever but when i got here in 1964 east we overlooked the entirethetop valley there is just a couple of lights no buildingr to more than two stories high.thug.

i have not see the outde of a tumbleweed they really do exist. but it was a different kind of town.as 70,000 others to million. -- now there is 2 million.you so with the alleged mobstersyouh , the politicianshey m the lawyers come to thehe sawth doctors, everybody is out a ver there with a close community maybe this is the same everyplace else it was awere tho rarity and then you gaveu

that person in your word. but now it is a cosmopolitan is city with a lot of action in the bottom line is we wouldit ws go to a casino in to go intowe the lounge to see great acts but they did that charge they. they bring the free drinks and orders and it waswas on wonderful because that is aome loss vegas was all about.las vea now with the advent of a gambling being commonplace they don't come for that asthr much it has great cuisine isyoun a wonderful retail shopping shopping, and when we got ho here to bite of a gift youwent went to j.c. penney or target.

and then he flew to use in francisco but now we have the arts center, the best in the shopping in the rotunda of think there is a shop that we don't have here. wholedi it is a whole different ballgame in the whole ball different world.hich one there is a trade-off but to have the best of everythinglable is for those to live period the visitors. in the old days there is th something nice about theips bete relationships.bus >>host: you write in write "being oscar" built by thet. mob? so what. >>guest: it is that's ri interesting.eresti. there were two different kinds of mobsters. one who were designated me. mobsters like those who came

from cleveland or another who came from texas so thosed kind of mobsters designatedmons by law enforcement these are the fellows who build thee vehicle catholic churches in the they were the philanthropist h and very responsible forponsible shaking up the legitimate city because they left with every issues they had behind then them and the other kind thate dn people did not know about. the these were fellows the most legitimate in the world

100 percent, and then we i found out through the and l affidavits they were noty we what they appeared to be which s working for those owners was illegal but the one thing irt would say of all the years it il lived here i have neverheous heard of the house shooting a player.where a pler but never one instance where it was cheated for that was a difference between the old old ysys. da >>host: you write dianahe n gambler i have been all mymy life baseball or football orb basketball. >> that is the truth.'t i guess if i were a brain wre surgeon or of intellect iprobabd

probably would have been fired but trying these cases the adrenaline with sevenbo days a week to acquire work very seriously.the when i left the courthouser and i studied for the next day's proceedings i would get nervous. that is when i decided i wouldn't be happy to share that with my facebook page of zaph but there will come.t. [laughter]quote >>host: another'' fromdri

"being oscar" also the first-ever summit has into the drink to not call me verer 5:00 i will be perfectly lucid but a good good c chance there will notnversations remember our conversation. >>guest: my day never ter d at 5:00 but i take my time and i jot down the conversationan because they would never know i wasdrinki why drinking because my mindle o works that wailes was very le clear but if i had of part time remembering if i had aremen phone call or whether notering titter but i write about this in the book that

i first decided to run for mayor. it would take place in the very affluent area that they care about the community ands. there would be a tough audience to expect something of substance. i heard through the i grapevineha my opponent because i do have a temper. hepf but that evening before thefrom debate i was in the marine corps stationed at cherryat point and then they will d start with my drinking and

he said to have to do a preemptive strike. what do you mean?ifou have eou have to take it outkeh before they get you. so i get up a fellow comes felow up as a newspaper reporter working as the investigator thes in he said mr. goodman so i knew there is trouble. when was less than your to city hall? i looked at him in herned arod d started to walk away from me. i said wait a second.u ase you ask the question in you look me in theu face will the th

audience gasped the kidsnd you're not supposed to talk to them like that but i wasfice hot i said, appear. i will tell you something iaid i have never been to city hallunk. and i am a drunk i drink to bottles of gin every night in miami gambler in will gamble on anything left or right and you name the price when i said that he had i nothing else to say about me.me. i don't cheat on my new wife, ida and abuse women, i emigrate neighbor. so they had nothing bad to say i went through the the enti entire election withouton proces anybody could save whatever i did not say about myself. within the next night i gotcause 80 percent -- to be 6% of next

the vote in the next time i'm 84 percent i still looking for those 16 the did fot vote for me. >>host:.e. [laughter]l as wiry successful? tin >>guest: because as a lawyer the juror is the smartest animal depending oneolh rewire but told people who don't know each other fromh different walks of life towa taken the oath they will return a verdict according to the law.la they get so involved to doin the right thing they have their own personal sacrifice that they put themselves in jeopardy with their health is concerned and realistic in their jobs very seriously.holden ca

infolded was one of my heroay is not the way he lived but i use that in my practice i thi may be a lot of things to a lot of people i knew therity jurors could see through ai k light for somebody who tries yo pull the wool over their tr eyes. ll i look them right in the i one by one and told them iod th perceive theem issue to me i said i never profess hisssed innocence because that is not what it was about first note. aout the prosecution could not find guilty beyond a a reasonlet reasonable doubt. so i took that into theuthfulnes mayor's office with me i had

martinis in the news hve m conference it was anthey c abridged and couldou ask meateve whenever they wanted and take whatever shot and i told them the way i saw its. my detractors love this one. but the levee with the children my wife would kill me the three little pigs theh real story about the will of not being the bad guy. they loved it eyelet debt myi watch and said to have any questions? one little fellow said what is the one thing you would

want if you run a desert island in the middle of the ocean?e like they thought of as a the tha bible and i said a bottle of gin. i got back to a office in everybody said how could the mayor tells just the children to drink gin? hi how did he say he was on a desert island in the story kept getting bigger and bigger i said i of the george washington of mayors. the same thing about theyors. book then they can write their own stupid book. then the other one because they do believe in satire i

do love the story is baja -- the stories of course, nobody advocates eating the babies but try too oe get the message across that the very cold and concrete roads but they finally did it one day i get a phone call that my beautiful desert tortoise was defaced by said if we catch up on devil take is the of and cut off on television. these are punks you suggesting builders defacing property costing my taxpayers millions of dollars. but i got people to pay attention to graffiti whichhem was a big problem now we have said graffiti's god.

i was not going to chop his thumb off on tv but what is that we put them ahead in the arms through it? the stockade. a step that would be good.nt the judge who sentenced him is he had to come to my, he h office to apologize. i had a machete. somebody gave me as a gift by ticket out of the case and put on my desk. this kid came up. i know of you really did stutter he will never graffiti anything again. but the way it's i delivered it made a difference that is so i did it as the mayor of las vegas. >>host: oscar goodman 1989

through 2011 as the mayor. i'm made history. the only mayor in the history of united states to swear in his spouse is shesucc is a better mayor than i am. >>host: you say let me bebou clear there is no truth to the river every morning my wife comes around to start si clappingde to get me going i am self motivated but even without her i hear the applause in my head. >guest: the only light that i told him that she would wake up every morning to start with the applause. we have a love affair married 51 years nothing but respect for one another sheh is a very wise and smart

lady we have a marriage 100 percent and one of the n present.o so it has been a great ride. >>host: what were theree three things? >> she said she is in your city girl. for some reason she wanted a horse.ted so i bought her a horse a reat horse up quarter horse she rode it around that was number two. -- and for one. wish never to she said she

would love a mercedes. wish number three everything in my power i have called up the militia that they would to g just give me the one wish i have tried to get the queen two-seater on behalf of the convention authority but i cannot make the connection i could get her to see the pope but she was to see thewant queen.to since it is on her bucket west hopefully i can get her before the queen before iet hang it up.her >>host: well her grandsonh does.e >> a thing she said she r would major that the prince

could have as many young ladies as he desires. >>host:. [laughter] how do you know, the majority leader? >> we were practicing law he said he would be the best civil lawyer and i would be the best criminal lawyer. we had a very cordial relationship. very friendly then when i began to represent my clients i was on the black locust those that they were not allowed to go into casinos are on the property they cannot even use thethey restroom i that that waseven terribly unconstitutional because the theory of getting in was not predicated it was the gambling violation so i set that was very and americansu alive with litigate time and time again, these people

i've represented one after another that they wanted to take their child to a boxing match i that that was terribly wrong from these casinos. said the chairman of the egg gaming commission representing dinero it was a lot of income is there was no love affair there was some contingents is based on personal issues they would play hardball in the felt out of love with one anotherf was not a good relationship. when i was elected mayor hed

ma threw a party in washington to introduce the people to the senate it was cordial ond supportive of the things he tried to do for the city we and right now when i see him and we tell stories i've let bygones be bygones most of the time but is a better relationship but we don'trelatih consider each other friends. in now a partner of mike roos of that part out he was afraid of the association. pat [laughter] he is running for state wer assembly the only mentioning anything is the democratic

primary so we switched to a republican from democrat to demo support him when i became a major -- a mere i thought it should be a position you don't ask of your constituents so we became non-partisan. we just turn not affiliated with any party. it is said good feeling toty. treated ready the same don't worry about the politics that is wrong with this country there is too much politics where people began saying they would vote that line bennett turned into a oersonal animosity. prs and that is a problem back in washington d.c. it'll think they like each other the republicans don't like the democrats i really don't think they like each other. theo they had better straighten up their act.

>>host: you have a'' in where there is a fee there is a remedy.f, t >>guest: that is a pretty good''. i love our cities journey if you ask him to do something you will tell him to do it but he will always say no. can you imagine to say oscar i was just charged with a serious offense and want to pay you to get me off progress and what is thed i sa offense? usually don't know what you are legally responsible for and i said it will cost one headed thousand dollars -- $100,000. why would they do that? is by charge them by better

believe it in my heart that i can win the case. that's right meant as the remedy. is >>host: there is also a chapter by don't represent rats. >> i hate rats not because of the wrapped because over the years it is the reason they became practice in the old days when i represented somebody that was to be a mafia boss, and they would take care of their underlying, the guy was arrested, they would send a lawyer tero see him there would go to his wife and say don't worry we would take s caree of you and the loyaltyre that they would profess

themselves to and it made sense. mad i think the mob fell aparte because the modern-day mafia mobster did not get treated that way.reted they were arrested, went to jail, awaiting for the lawyer, no lawyer is coming. they call then they hire a lawyer and nobody pays for 'm it.aying t that is the difference. the wife and children they've given assurancesife then the fbi is smart they make up the story the chief mobster will be the contact so then hearing that there is no reason to be the real. -- flail so that has changed but another thing is settled like rats because of the way

the government handles them. it is unconscionable they r could makea deals with the devil. they on their own s determination be the defendant or the witness that i have seen the least culpable become the target in the most culpable given a walk and over the years i have seen these government t witnesses who readily admit on the witness stand only do two years in prison to get the benefit. to be that is unconscionable. that is one of the reasons and then never represented this people because i don't believe they tell the truth.

i said all they heard fromd the prosecutor is we wantsecutor the. we have to get vinny. i would say you want to get him he made up paul lai and then the years go by in thehe city did not murder him but s they told him that but they t never told the judge thatat and the prosecutor kept that and after 17 years for spending time in prison by judge finally said outrages embedding about. the prosecutor exculpatory evidence and nothing happened he is still walking around without any kind of penalty. i don't mean to yell at you. >>host:. [laughter] there goodman when you were mayor you had a certain rule

for the moving company is? >>guest: if you can imagine scorsese or sharon stone and robert deniro and joked as she to become their friend my mother called me she said i saw your movie i was in getting into their parts continue was a wire i decided i love them so much wase ahead to figure out a way to thv get back into the movies io gu thought in order to make a movie in las vegas you have to get a permit. the was in charge of city hall? the mayor. so i said i have a direction for you if anybody will make a movie las vegas they have

to never permit she says you have to do the you can doe that i said i am the mayor. two weeks ago by jackie chan. i said to send him in hear. [laughter] he comes in and and he says i cannot believe that so now we have to permit and i said absolutely he said to have to be kidding it was a great part. i was at the desert in. i was in agent type casino is a great scene it ended up on the cutting room floor. i got on the phone and i said to an coverage you know, who i am? to know who i am you will never make "rush hour 3" in this city as long as i am

the mayor i scared him so much i am in part to three. cutting room floor. of it to the city attorney is in the arab giving them up permit indecent what can i do i said i've lived the airtight contract to receive the movie before they do that he said you cannot do that so the next movie is called angel played they tell me the exotic thriller it turns out it is the erotic thriller and i am in the movie. >>host: on that here is the cover of the book "being oscar" from mob lawyer to mayor of las vegas - only in america." oscar goodman is the author.

this is booktv on c-span2. due to detroit filing bankruptcy we will profile programs here recently we will begin with the book deal troy disassemble to look at the industrial collapse. it shows the architectural the case throughout the city. the author is joined by philip levine -- levine pulitzer prize winning portrait. >> it never occurred to me to wonder what i was doing as a young kid from west virginia he was working alongside me he would stick

along piece of metal then we would pass it on and he would say to me whether remaking here? it is a reasonable question and i said i making $2 and $0.35 an hour i don't know what you are making. [laughter] he said no know what are we making here out of this year metal? it had not occurred to me to even think. i called the four men over. i said what are we making with this metal? he said get back to work and quit screwing off.

and i wonder, does he know? [laughter] we could be making the parts court the 1918 chevrolet that ends up know where. i never worked for ford. i never wanted to but i worked for a company that delivered to pick up electric motors so i did go into that. they were just so fast -- vast but even a little machines play this kid and stick it to you. [laughter] >> be interesting thing is

with this deal making that ford motor was sold to the russian steelmaker and actually the russians gave you permission to go into ford but they had already abandoned it. >> they bought a big part of a factory of furnaces where they unload the boat and things like that but that part was bought by the russians. . .